Fish tank?

[LauraBoston]

I was just wondering if there are any other fish geeks out there.

I got some new fish Sunday. I got rid of my Oscar, and Blood Parrot, and got a Jack Demsey, and a Firemouth.

I love the Demsey...and I cant wait until the Firemouth gets bigger!

My tank;
75gal. All-Glass
planted - moslty swords
red jewled - full size 4"
convict - full size 4"
2 fighting gourmais (kissing fish) - 3 1/2 - 4"
albino long tailed pleco 4 1/2"
the demsey 3"
and firemouth 2"

What do you got..

any saltwater tanks? I'm thinking of pickin up a 29gal. to do some saltwater stuff.

 

[95Jeeper]

Just to let ya know. Salt water environments can be tough to maintain. I have a friend who has killed every fish in his tank except for two of them. Some people have the salt set up for a long time till they can get actually get all the factors correct. It's kind of funny to see those two little blue fish swimming around still knowing that he has killed about 300 hundred dollars worth of other fish.

 

[LauraBoston]

Yeah...for sure.

Wicked hard, but the smaller the tank the eaiser. It also has to do with maintenance.

Only $300 lost in fish, thats not bad considering a lot of marine fish go for about that much - but that is also full size for huge ass tanks. I would buy small fish at my LFS or something for $20-$50.

Even some fresh water fish are pricy. I got the pleco for $60 he was the most expensive fish I got, the oscar was only $20, and the same for the parrot. When we gave the guy back the Parrot, he gave us the Demsey for free, he said he could sell the parrot for at least $80, and the Demsey was going for $30.

 

[Tug-n-pull]

Was the owner of A1 tropical Pets in Clearwater Fla. for a short time. Mostly in the hardware end not a fish monger. Sold a bunch of tanks to a bunch of folks cheaper than anyone else in the Tampa Bay area. Also did bird stuff. Limited it that not cats dogs ect.. Love a fish tank but have not had one in going on 12 years now. I bet things have changed a bunch sence I was there. tug

 

[Inspector-Gadget]

Ques about Removing rear track bar on YJ

Hello Laura,

I know very little about fish tanks, beyond that I enjoy looking at them.

Beyond the magic of an infant sleeping, I can't think of anything else as relaxing and tranquil.

One of my doctors has a huge tank in his waiting room. I once asked the doc how he found time to take care of the tank.

He laughed, then told me that he contracted a fish store to maintain the tank.

Well..that sure is a no stress, no strain way to do it.

Gadget

 

[LauraBoston]

Hi Gadget,
Tranquil...ahhh it is. I figured it would be a long shot finding fish enthusiest on a Jeep forum. Expecially owning a Jeep myself, one that hasn't brooken down (yet) to boot...It's would be hard to choose between a new fish or sumthin for the Jeep.

 

[64Jeeper]

I thought about starting a business building custom fish tanks. I am gonna atempt to build one to look like a CJ grill. I'll post pics when I am finished building it.

 

[ZBTstang]

LauraBoston: Wicked hard

You can tell your from Boston Laura, but im sure it sounded like wickeed Haaaad. ..... Sorry im a die hard sox fan whos had boston on the brain since "that" game

 

[jps4jeep]

Laura, you still haven't told me why all my bala sharks died?? They got all fuzzy and started swiming in t a vertical line. the placo also kicked the bucket! I am down to a red tailed molly and a couple of zebra fish!

What the hell?

 

[LauraBoston]

John, How fuzzy? Was it like colliflowa? It's funny cuz one would think the mollies would die first...
With out know any info of the sharks, I would think some sort of parasite was growing on them...that usually happens when you add new fish to the tank or poor h2o quailty. Regular water changes should ellimnate that.

I would normally ask, what size tank, water test such as PH, KH, GH, water temp, all species of fish in there. Did you add fish before the sickness, how much water change and how often. If you want to answer these questions I could probably give you the 'real' reason your Pelco and sharks died.

Zebras are pretty hardy fish, they should be hard to kill...the mollys baffle me though - I would think those are the first to go...

 

[LadyJeepFreak]

Here I am! I love fish Laura and all things tropical. I haven't had a tank in yeas, haven't had my own place in two years. I want a big one myself when I do get my own place, soon.

One of my last boyfriends had a black pacu and that fish was so funny to watch, very agressive and animated.

The bigger the tank, the nicer the aquarium. I love the table aquariums or the stranger ones that are custom made or ordered. I'd love to have something unique like that.

For now, I stick to my 2.4 gallon tank at work. lol Sad huh. I got long fin tetra's.

Keep on Jeeping!
Lady

 

[LauraBoston]

Rim and Tire sizing

LOL @ Lady!!!

I had a Pacu once, a Red Bellied Pacu, he got to be about a foot, and he tore up the tank so we gave him away...I miss him.

Pacus are part of the Pauruna (sp?) family. They are VERY fun to watch...they get wicked big, a full grown Pacu can get to be 2 feet! You need like 200 gal. for that!!

Long fined tetra's are fun to watch...they like zip all ova the place. I want a community tank...I would do like 10g. planted with tetras, guppies, mollies all those live breaders!! It would be so cool...someday~ but only after the saltwater tank!!

 

[noskils32]

Anyone ever try to put a tank in their Jeep? Now that would be a tought job not to try to spill water and stuff!

 

[Utah_jeepster]

Well I have a Salt Water tank here and keep live corals.
To begain with a little back ground info for those intrested.
Salt Water is very difficult to maintain since after you cycle your tank ( growing the right bacteria) you have to change roughly about 10% of your water weekly to keep the Nitrates down so you dont start growing hair algie.
Keeping a fish only tank is alot easyier than keeping live corals since the light requirments are much lower and the water changing isnt as strict.

To start out a 55 gallon tank is the smallest you ever want to start out as a newbie. ( there more forgiving in water changes and live rock requirments.) Yes live rock you see you have start a cycle inside the tank, certain bacteria changes the Ammonia into nitrites, then another changes Nitrites into nitrates that is less harmful to your fish but feeds algie that can kill any live corals.
There are alot of books out there that can explain this cycling of the tank and various types of substrate styles that include some thing called a dead water spce below your substrate that is called anti-arobic that reveses your Ammonia cycle but you have to do a slow drip from this dead water space to keep this anti-arobic cycle going.
As you can see this is a very compicated set-up.
A fish only tank is alot easyier to start out and you can set-up with a few Damsel fish with a fresh substrate to cycle the tank. Most salt water fish cant handle the stress'es of cycling a tank, damsel fish can.
Once cycled you can do a 50% water change and start adding the better looking fish.

I recomend everyone start here with a fish only system since trying to keep live coral is a very big step and requires 10-15 hours a week working on your tank. The work and cost is worth having the nature channle live in there own living room.
A live coral tank averages around 2-3k setting it up and around 100-200 a month for water changes and chemicals. The power bill can average around 200$ more a month for some thing like this.

I will post some pics of some of the corals and of the 3 fish I have in a 270 gallon tank.
If you are ever going to try this please gather all of the reading material available and read it, look for and join a local fish club before ever setting one up.
Most salt water fish come to your local dealers from collectors from around the world who capture them directly from the coral reefs.
Very few are bred in captivity! Some have very specific feeding requirments and 90% of the time they die over time since we cant feed them the right foods since they require a very specific food that cant be reproduced in captivity.

 

[LauraBoston]

free parts

55 gal. the smallest? Isn't that kinda big? I have heard coral tanks are wicked hard, and only for the experienced fish lova.

All I am thinking about is something easy, with fish. I don't have the time, money, or space to do a coral tank - 55 gal. non the less. I just want to get some clowns, sea hourses, snails, angle...I know small amounts of info on these fish...still doing research.

I would LOVE to see pictures of your tank. I bet it is beauitful.

 

[Utah_jeepster]

Hi ya Laura
Yes a 55 gallon is large but your trying to maintain a very delicate ballance here. First you have to keep the arobic bacteria stable.
Smaller tanks require alot more vigulance and monitoring of the Ammonia,Nitrite, and nitrate levels to keep your fish healthy.
Smaller tanks can go south in less than a days time here.
The larger the tank the more stable they are.

Purclua or clown fish are a very hearty fish and are easy to keep. They can eat most of the freezed dried foods and gama foods to keep there colors.

Sea horses are a very delicate creature and require live food. Brine shrimp. You can purchase them at most salt water fish stores.
The problem with live feeders is that they polute the water and raise the ammonia levels very quickly. A large protien skimmer is needed with live feeders.

Some of the angle fist are specific feeders and only feed on certain invertabrates and live foods.
The problems with invertabrae's (snails, hermit crabs, ect ect) are that they can die off under rocks and before you know it your ammonia's are 5+ parts per milloin and your tanks is going south.
I would also recomend that you put in a UV steralizer inline with a fish only tank to keep the parasites down to a min.
I would also recomend that you remove all the Damsel fish after you cycle the tank since perc's and sea-horses dont get along with those dominate type fish.
Any salt water fish tank isnt cheap. A fish only tank can be ran with 2-3 PPM of copper in the system to keep the parasites down. But any thoughts of later of adding a inveratabrate will have to be squashed or you will have to change all the substrate along with any live rock since they soak in the copper and copper kills ALL live corals and most invertabria's.

 

[Jeeppicus]

WOW, I'm learning stuff I never thought about. I guess they call it becoming a more well rounded person.

 

[LauraBoston]

Damn, you are full of info! Wicked cool. Thats good to know. The Marine fish sites I find don't give as much information as you.

I defintally want to stay away from live feaders, I'm all done with that, I had an Oscar. What are the Clownfish's behavorial patterns? What I'm trying to get at is what type of others are, hardy fish?

What about a 45 G tank?

 

[jps4jeep]

I had 8 molly's, Now only one! They got fuzzy like they grew white mold all over them! It happened about a week or so after I added the placo, who also died. Water was fine and the dude at the pet store was like, "Probably bad filter", I told him go pound sand cause he had no clue!

 

[TerryMason]

87-95 YJ flares and steps

I'm actually a fish person, and have had them since about highschool (29 now). My favorite fish by far was my Snakehead (http://spike.dsdhosting.com). He lived about 6 years, and grew to about 2 feet. He's the only fish that ever seemed to really interact with you (he would watch you all the time). Anyway, he died, and I've just converted my 90 gallon tank to saltwater.

In the last 2 months I've added:
3 damsles, a starfish, an anonemie (I can't spell that, I know), and last night, a clown fish. I've also got some live rock.

Everything is so far so good.